eric herschmann, an adviser to donald trump at the end of the trump presidency, he also is a lawyer who was in the white house, and he has received a subpoena from a federal grand jury. we were able to confirm that yesterday. he was one of those people that was in the white house, pushing back on some of these dubious legal theorys that outside advisers were pushing with trump, john eastman particularly, here's what herschmann had to say captured on film by the house select committee in their investigation, when they sat him down for testimony. here's herschmann then. >> i don't want to hear any other effing words come out of your mouth other than orderly transition. repeat those words to me. and eventually he said orderly transition. i said, good, john, now i'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life, get a great effing criminal defense lawyer, you're going to need it. and i hung up on him. >> reporter: so this subpoena does come in a very aggressive investigation by the justice department separate from mar-a-lago. this january 6th investigation, a

john, you actually led the questioning of eric herschmann for the january 6th committee.he's a really important witness, to borrow a line fromfrom "hamilton," he was in the room where it happened. he was attorney and close adviser to president trump. there are a lot of things he can talk about, like that clip you just show demonstrates, he can testify about his interactions with john eastman and the entire proposal to have the vice president unilaterally overturn the results of the election at the joint session of congress on january 6. he can talk about the plots to appoint jeff clark as acting attorney general so he could try to change the results of the election. i think he'll at least be asked about the so-called fake elector scheme. i'm not sure how much personal knowledge he'll have with that. but there's a whole range of issues that he can be asked about. you can tell from that clip, he's a good story teller and very colorful and entertaining and yet, at the same time, credible witness. >> he remains details and conversations very clearly. and presented them very c

but eric herschmann was subpoenaed. our viewers know him because the january 6th panel interviewed herschmann a ton and they recorded it and it was featured heavily in the hearings that we saw last month and the month before that. >> what they were proposing i thought was nuts. he screamed at me that i was a quitter and they were screaming at me. i said to him, are you out of your f-ing mind? i only want the hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on. orderly transition. eventually, emorderly transition. i said good, john. now i'll give you the best free legal advice you're getting in your life. get a great f-ing criminal defense lawyer. you're going to ned it. >> 25 more questions. i'll try to fit them both in. what does it say to you that herschmann has been subpoenaed by doj? >> it means to me the january 6th investigation is really gone forward and has gone forward a pace. and there were people critical as i was, putting eric herschmann in the grand jury which is a really wise step if you're doing a public

i mean, eric herschmann seems like somebody who would say that was preposterous. so, that was a very bad fact, in terms of signaling that merrick garland is really i think, putting his foot on the gas. >> and bradley moss, in this filing with the court, they openly referred to other high-profile investigations being possibly affected by the revelation of everything that's in that affidavit. >> yeah, it makes you wonder, what exactly else are they going after? we know there's other sealed entries, another search warrant, we don't know what it is, what it was for, and when. it makes you, you know, kind of question, okay, how many different tentacles as this thing half? obviously, there's the classified information aspect. there's obviously the -- january 6th, is there something else we don't know about, are there any of the other individuals and play that we don't know about yet? so, with donald trump, it has to be quite possibly, two worst weeks in your life, since you almost went bankrupt in the 90s. everything is going against you right now, and you've got all th

in a separate trump legal drama, a source says eric herschmann has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating january 6. he might remember his blunt testimony before the january 6 committee. >> now i'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life. get a great fing criminal defense lawyer, you will need it. >> reporter: that is herschmann talking about how he pushed back on trump lawyer john eastman's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. also the "new york times" reports a top trump organization executive charged with participating in a year's long tax scheme is nearing a plea deal with prosecutors. the "times" says alan weisselberg will now be cooperating in a broader investigation. and also rudy giuliani has been named a target of the georgia grand jury investigation. here is giuliani's reaction on the right wing channel newsmax. >> when you start turning around lawyers into defendants when they are defending their clients, we're starting to live in a fascist state. >> starting to live in a fascist state. let's bring in dave aaronberg wo

c., issuing a subpoena to former white house lawyer, eric herschmann. and if you weren't quite sure how important that is, it would quickly rise in importance, once you read that our first guest tonight, former federal prosecutor andrew weissmann said today that he believes that this subpoena, to eric herschmann, means that donald trump himself is a target of the grand jury investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol, and the attempt to overthrow the election. here is what eric herschmann told that january six committee about trump attorney, john eastman whose phone was seized by the fbi. >> now, i'm gonna give you the best free legal advice for over getting in your life. get a great effing criminal defence lawyer, you are gonna need it. and i hung up on him. >> the new york times and other news organizations have requested that the florida judge who issued the search warrant for donald trump's home release the fbi affidavit, that laid out the criminal case or cases, that are being investigated with that search warrant. in a brief to the judge t

>> yeah, herschmann speaking to the grand jury is significant. he had -- he's going to be most helpful with corroborating testimony given, whether publicly in the january 6 th committee. some of the moments he had visibility into were access to is the final investigation of the administration whether it was the fake elector scandal, the day of january 6th. and while he's become a bit of a fan favorite in the congressional hearings, for his sort of funny commentary, he is somebody who had incredible access to the president in those final days, and i think it is just another important person to bring in and piece together what we already know, but the more cooperation, the better for the doj's investigation. >> phil, on the fbi's search of trump's home, "the wall street journal" is reporting as i mentioned the attorney general deliberated over the search for weeks before signing off. weeks of meetings between top justice and fbi officials. accepting that the public does not know what all the information was obviously that merrick garland had before

herschmann had firsthand knowledge of the way that conversation went. present at the ellipse rally on january 6th, closely seeing what played out over the course of that day. so, he has detailed, firsthand, immediate, thorough knowledge of multiple parts of the effort that some of trump's supporters engaged in to try to reverse the election outcome. frankly, it would have been surprising if the justice department didn't try to get his testimony. he's not the first lawyer that they have called in, of course. as we mentioned earlier, pat cipollone and patrick philbin have also both been summoned by this grand jury related to the january 6th probe. but herschmann, without question, brings a layer of detail and insight that you would think the justice department, unsurprisingly, would be keenly interested in. >> andrew weissmann, all throughout this last week or so, i turned to you as one of the smartest people, raising what the questions are we should stay focused on. and you have been like a dog at a bone over the, why did donald trump have these document

and i hung up on them. >> that guy is eric herschmann, he was once a trump white house lawyer. january 6th attack. it appears the department of is working its way through trump lawyers. two weeks ago that same grand jury subpoenaed white house counsel pits pat cipollone and his deputy deputy patrick philbin for their testimony. now in context, all three men were president in the oval office when doj official jeffrey clark unsuccessfully tried to engineer a coup so he could further donald trump's coup plot. pat cipollone and the others were there for the unhinged oval meeting about overturning the election that included people like michael flynn, rudy giuliani, sydney powell any overstock guy pushing crazy election conspiracies. just last month, both like pence's of staff in his head legal counsel testified before that same grand jury. this all gives a real sense things are heating up in the criminal investigation of january 6th. i'm not a lawyer but i can't imagine it's not it's good when the ex president has all his lawyers being subpoenaed to testify by before a grand jury by

i like this eric herschmann guy.ceful transition. >> i like my restaurant. say it back to me. >> peaceful transition. then he said it. >> willie, best testimony. i mean, some of the best testimony we heard, "get yourself a blanking lawyer." some great stuff. again, i do hope, because there are going to be a lot of movies about this one day, i do hope that eric herschmann gets to play herschmann in the movies. >> he deserves it. say it to me, peaceful transition of power, pulling the tie, making him say it again, say it slow. >> yeah. >> it would be a shame if something happened to your oil spill. >> yeah. >> jonathan lemire, he'll have a lawyer by him today. to underline this, the fact -- the news here is that there is a grand jury right now looking into criminality around january 6th. so you see that eric herschmann has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury. they don't put grand juries together because they want to hear magical tales of unicorns and, i don't know, beautiful things that kids like. i mean, th

herschmann, mr. cipollone, that they weren't offering him any solutions. miss powell and others were, so why not try what miss powell and others were proposing. do you remember anything along those lines being said about president trump? >> i do. that sounds right. >> i think it got to the point where the screaming was completely, completely out there. people walking in, late at night, they had a long day. what they were proposing i thought was nuts. >> i'm gonna categorically describe it as you guys are not tough enough. or maybe i'll put it another way, you're a bunch of policies, excuse the expression. i'm almost certain the word was used. >> kept on standing up and standing around screaming at me. as a certain point i had it with him. i yield back. either come over or sit your effing aspect down. >> the president and the white house team went upstairs to the residence, in the big parlor where you can have meetings in a conference room. >> they call it the yellow oval. >> yes, exactly. the yellow oval office. i always called it the upper. i'm not exactl

if that name sounds familiar, it's because eric herschmann is the guy with the of electric wall art, who gave expletive laden testimony to january 6th committee about the white house effort to overturn the election. the new york times has brand-new reporting tonight that the justice department has subpoenaed the national archives for all the trump white house documents that the agency previously turned over to the january six committee, according to the times, the grand jury subpoena, which was issued in may, suggests that the justice department is not only been following the committees lead in pursuing its inquiry, but also the prosecutors believe that evidence of a crime may exist in the white house documents, the archives turned over the house panel. that is new tonight. and then, there is the other other trump investigation, also being conducted by the justice department, this one looking into trump's potential mishandling of classified information at mar-a-lago. tonight, nbc news reports nine days after fbi agents recovered classified documents from the former president's florid

in the final days at the white house, eric herschmann was at a number of key meetings including discussions to overturn the election. catherine herridge, cbs news, washington. >>> president biden signed the "inflation reduction act" into law. he called the $740 billion measure historic yesterday. democrats say it will fight climate change and lower health care costs. republicans oppose the legislation calling it a tax and spending spree. >> let me say from the start with this law the american people won, and the special interests lost. >> democrats more than any other majority in history are addicted to spending other people's money. regardless of what we as a country can afford. >> the measure passed with no gop support in both the house and the senate. >>> and first lady jill biden is isolating this morning after testing positive for covid. the white house made the announcement yesterday saying that she has mild symptoms and is taking paxlovid. e was vationing with esident bi carolina. she will remain there for at least five days. president biden, who recovered from a rebound case of covi

it was too late was quit and come forward, maybe eric herschmann.hey all went along with it for the most part until they got indicted, in michael cohen's case, or got subpoenaed bify th january 6th committee. as a lawyer you have a lot of power, especially if you're lawyer for the united states and you have consequences if you don't use it properly. >> that list reminds us of the vortex his lawyers can get drawn into. >> i just want to stop and say, i talked to michael cohen about this last night, they get into more trouble than he does. being a lawyer for donald trump is more hazardous than being donald trump. >> so far, yeah. but i think it is that vortex effect that he has. also who he chooses to surround himself with and what he's asking his people to protect him from. but this is the lesson his lawyers are learning, which republicans continue to learn, which is this is winston chur churchill's definition of appeasement, feeding a crocodile and hoping it's going to eat you last. you're going to get eaten. >> to be fair, no one has argued that ci

as i mentioned this week, they subpoenaed the former white house lawyer eric herschmann and, of coursekout stars from the january 6th hearings on capitol hill. let me play for you and our viewers a small glimpse of what he had to say at the time. >> what they were proposing, i thought was months. they screamed at me that i was a quitter -- i said to him, are you of your effing mind? i said i only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on. orderly transition. eventually he, he said, orderly transition. i said, good john, now i will give you the best free legal advice you will ever get in your life. get a great effing criminal defence lawyer, you will need it. >> renato, what kind of information could somebody like herschmann provide to the greenery? this is such a dynamic moment in the hearings because it gave us a very granular level recap of the conversation that was taking place, but what could he provide to the grand jury investigation? >> ayman, i had to say that he probably has a good bleeping lawyer himself now. i imagine he has a lot to tell the grand jury beca

this is the testimony of white house lawyer eric herschmann. john eastman called mr. herschmann the day after january 6th, and here's how that conversation went. >> i said to him are you out of your acting mind? i only want to hear two words come out of your mouth for now, orderly transition. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> at the conclusion of last week's hearing, we showed you a video explaining why that come to washington on january 6th. it was because donald trump told them to be here. today we heard about some of the lies donald trump embraced and amplified when it became clear he didn't have the numbers of votes to win the election. we heard about health officials in different levels of government explored claims of fraud, and found no evidence. yet, the former president continue to repeat those false claims over and over again. today will end things where we did on thursday, back on january 6th, hearing words of individuals who wanted to stop the transfer of power. we know they were there because of donald trump. now we hear some of the things they

over the scope of the subpoena and over how executive an attorney/client privilege may limit her herschmannsubpoenaed after cipollone and philbin. he frequently had run-ins with other advisers who were refusing to accept the election results. he's already testified before the january 6th committee, some of which was played during the first round of hearings. >> eventually, he said orderly transition. i said, good, john, now i'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life. get a great f-ing criminal defense lawyer. you're going to need it. then i hung up on him. >> words to live by there. senior reporter for "insider" joining us now. camilla, there are going to be claims of executive privilege, some challenges here. what do you think we'll actually be able to learn from his testimony? >> it is significant he is now one of several former white house aides that are being subpoenaed to just comply and testify act what he knew in the days leading up to the january 6th insurrection and the aftermath. you heard from the testimony he's given to the january 6th hear

herschmann's content really shines through there, right? he basically takes down his pants and spanks him. [ laughter ] there is this never say die buffoonery about eastman, but remember the fights and the squabbles with trump eastman prevails. so this is the guy, this pretty patent buffoon, i think is a fair word, who, in fact, got the president and directed the legal strategy that was, you know, what the white house was actually executing. so on the one hand he seems ridiculous and mercenary like all good trumpists, but on the other, remember, he actually effectuated what trump was doing. he listened to him and jewelliany as we see on the screen and not the more sober team normal that was saying this guy is f-ing nuts. >> so, harry, is it safe to say at this point that the doj will look at these emails and will want to the look at this and pull this information into a broader case? >> 100%. eastman and clark they're going after and that specifically goes to this crazy january 6th plan to just delay things, so without a doubt because it bu

news that a in the final days of the trump white house, eric herschmann witnessed key meetings about testimony. overturning the election, and told one advisor, john eastman, he needed a good criminal defense attorney, norah. >> o'donnell: catherine herridge, thank you. we want to turn now to the closely-watched primary in the deep-red state of wyoming. polls just closed there, and tonight, republican voters are poised to replace their state's only house member: congresswoman liz cheney. her political fortune turned when she became one of donald trump's fiercest critics. cbs's robert costa is in jackson, wyoming. >> there's nothing more important than the defense of our constitution. >> reporter: cbs news was the only tv crew there as congresswoman liz cheney headed to the polls, alongside her father, former vice president dick cheney. what's at stake today, congresswoman? >> we are facing very challenging and difficult times. we are facing a moment where our democracy really is under attack. >> reporter: cheney was once a star of the republican party, winning office in 2016, the same

president, based on the objection from council. >> maybe had a brief conversation about it with eric herschmann. >> tell me about that. but do you remember him saying to you about this disagreement? >> i just remember him saying that he had -- i'm trying, i don't want to get this wrong. something to the effect of thinking that it would be counterproductive. i think, he thought to discuss the matter publicly. >> so, it came up in the context of editing the presidents speech on january the 6th? >> came up in the conversation where eric knew it was in the speech. and so, he had a sidebar with me about it. >> so, the speech writers took that advice and removed the lines about vice president pence. later that morning, at 11:20 am, president trump had a phone call with the vice president. as the committee detailed in an earlier hearing, that phone call was, by all accounts, tense and he did. during this call, the vice president told the president that he would not attempt to change the outcome of the election. in response, the president called the vice president of the united states a win and other d

herschmann's account of that call. >> the day after, you just man, i don't remember why he called me.texted me or called me, wanted to talk to me and he said he couldn't reach others. he started to ask me about something dealing with georgia, preserving something, potentially for appeal. and i said to him are you out of your effing mind. i said i only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on, orderly transition. he said, i don't want to hear any other effing words coming out of your mouth no matter what, other than orderly transition. repeat those words to me. we eventually he said, orderly transition. i said, good, john. now i'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life, get a great effing defense, lawyer you're going to need it. and then i hung up on him. >> in fact, just a few days later, dr. easement rudy giuliani and requested that he be included on a list of potential recipients of a presidential pardon. doctor eastman's emails stated, quote, i've decided that i should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works. do

herschmann.we went in and then we told the president, maybe ten minutes into the meeting or something, i forget how foreign, mr. donoghue was outside and. he said, we'll bring him in. and then mr. donoghue kim in and join to the meeting. >> so mr., you enter that room. can you set the scene for us and describe the tone you walked into? >> yes. but if i could just back up one moment, congressman, because you put the pictures up on the screen of the ag's, i want to make clear that one of the ages not on the screen was john tumors. john was the national security division ag. john was on the call. i preface the call by saying, john, we need you to stay in place. national securities too important. we need to minimize their is destruction. with your design is obviously up to you. obviously we'll ex respect your decision either way and i ask you to please stay in place. and he did. so i don't want to leave the impression that he was not going to resign. >> great. thank you. thank you for that. >> so wit

everyone thought clark's proposal was crazy, including white house attorney eric herschmann: >> i thoughtguy that, at a certain point, you know, listen, the best i could tell was, the only thing you knew about environmental and elections challenges is that they both start with "e", and based on your answer tonight, i am not even certain you know that. >> stephen: to which clark replied, "of course they don't! 'environment' starts with 'n,' and 'elections' starts with 'l'! a-duh." ( applause ) then, as with all the ex- president's criminal schemes, it was time to hear about rudy giuliani's role. >> do you remember ever recommending to anybody that mr. clark, meaning jeffrey clark at d.o.j., be given election- related responsibilities? (long pause) >> you mean beyond the president? >> stephen: that is a long pause, but it does take a while to chug a bottle of yellowtail chardonnay. rudy eventually answered. >> you mean beyond the president? >> correct. (pause) ( laughter ) >> well, beyond the president i do recall saying to people that um somebody should be put in charge of the justice depa

they have also subpoenaed eric herschmann along with pat cipollone and pat philbin. why?they want to know what the boss was doing on or around that time and they want to get at issues of executive privilege. they want to pierce that in advance. they don't want to delay these things any further. and i suspect that what you are seeing in this latest round of subpoenas is an attempt to really find out about what trump did because if they are ever going to pursue legal action against him, they have to get more, they have to show that he was more involved with the violence on that day than the evidence shows at present. >> and all these things take time. very important issues but of course they take time. how do -- how does the public stay engaged with stuff like this when as you know the legal system sometimes the way it operates tends to do so in a way that makes people tune out? >> tell me about it. as a prosecutor i see that all the time. people are so frustrated. and not only is it about the delays built into the criminal justice system, a lot for the benefit of the defen

the federal grand jury looking to join the six has subpoenaed former white house attorney eric herschmann. he is the one that told the former presidents election lawyer john eastman to quote, get a great criminal defence lawyer, you are going to need it. also today, new reporting in the washington post. i'm quoting. a team of computer experts, directed by lawyers, allied with president donald trump, copied sensitive data from election systems in georgia as part of a secret of multi state effort to access voting agreement that was broader, more organized and more successful than previously reported. now, if tonight we're moving, perhaps the title would be everything, everywhere, all at once. and there is also breaking news on top of all of that. on the man who may know more about the former presidents business and finance that anybody else. cnn's evan perez joins us with that. when are you learning? >> anderson, allen weisselberg who was a top executive with the trump organization, at the new york times, says that he is about to finalize a plea agreement with the district attorney in manha

political reporting a federal grand jury has now subpoenaed trump white house lawyer eric herschmann for testimony. you remember him? the witness with a notable artwork behind him at all those videos we've watched for weeks. he's the guy who told january 6th committee that he suggested to john eastman quote getting great effing criminal defence lawyer. the vice chair on that committee is a candidate in one of tomorrow's crucial primary elections, one that could mark the end of the political dynasty of sorts. you know who i'm talking about? republican congresswoman liz cheney. she's facing trump backed challenger harry airman. it is her father was a fixture in republican washington for decades. she is elder icy for six years. the polls are now showing hageman well ahead of cheney. last gop senator lisa murkowski is also facing a canada who has trump support. but murkowski is expected to win her primary. with that, let's get smarter tonight. with beginning our national security expert frank food lucy. frank, we've got a lot to get to. i want to start with this joint bulletin from the f

the justice department recently subpoenaed white house lawyer eric herschmann as well as white housecipollone and deputy counsel pat philbin. both cipollone and philbin defended donald trump's first impeachment trial. joining us now is democratic representatives joaquin jeffries of new york. he was impeachment manager in that first impeachment trial of donald trump in the united states senate. thank you very much for joining us tonight congressman jeffrey's. when you get your reaction on this breaking news about over 300 marked classified documents not removed from mar-a-lago and one piece of the new york times reporting that i haven't included yet is that they say the justice department is not convinced that they have it all that there actually may have missed some that are still there. but this is what it has taken, three shipments including that final shipment through the fbi search warrant to get at least 300, over 300 out of donald trump's home. >> it's another extraordinary development. it should shock the conscience, but it's not surprising when you put it in the context and t

lawyers, white house counsel pat cipollone, his deputy pat philbin, and now, today we learned eric herschmann working for the president, all having received subpoenas from justice department. we don't exactly know the topic, we don't really know which grand jury. there's a lot of different investigation, that itself is remarkable. we've also seen a member of congress, had his phone seized, as part of an investigation in which he's reportedly been told he's a witness and not a target. when we're talking about white house lawyers and serving members of congress, these sorts of people who aren't typically caught up in the work of the justice department, how does that influence you? your decisions as a prosecutor, as an investigator, knowing that people with a lot of political power, and people working in sensitive political jobs are in your sights? >> i think, one of the signals from the attorney general of the justice department, which is really important to stress is that, ultimately, those considerations really or not, have an impact. and that's and multiple investigations. in fact, i think t

this is -- this is eric herschmann, deputy white house counsel. >> and was representative gaetz requesting we may get prosecuted because we were defensive of, you know, the president's positions on these things. >> how do you know that congressman gaetz asked for a pardon? >> he told me. >> tell us about that. >> he told me he'd asked meadows for a pardon. >> mr. gaetz was personally pushing for a pardon, and he was doing so since early december. >> the only reason i know to ask for a pardon is because you think you've committed a crime. >> frank figliuzzi, how does the pursuit of a pardon, especially the ones that aren't ultimately granted -- what does that mean if you're investigating someone like gaetz, either for alleged child sex trafficking, which is an ongoing federal investigation that we know about, or potentially some of his conduct as it pertains to january 6th, which we have no information that suggests he is under investigation there. >> certain doesn't make things easier for investigators. it's tantamount to obstruction. the problem, of course, is that there are -- the presid

politico says justice department subpoenas former trump white house lawyer eric herschmann and judgelindsay graham to tougher in the georgia trump probe and subpoenaed to testify. the one thing on no one's radar screen was the thing now, between donald trump and an orange jump suit, does this surprise you that it turns out to be classified materials and foreign policy and not something related to 1/6 and his personal businesses and other things and that might be the one thing that ends up bringing trump down. >> i don't know if it's surprising, but clearly i think donald trump has had a history of trying to skirt the law, and to do things that are rather unethical and unprincipled whether it be in the business world and in his post-presidential life the questions remain whether or not he has intentionally lied and deceived the government in terms of what's been held in mar-a-lago and what i hear about the legal experts and others about the potential for indictments and whether it be for trump or giuliani, i'm not a lawyer and without getting too technical, i think both rudy and trump

whether they're late or not, does the fact that they're doing this and subpoenaing people like eric herschmannhey were late and now they're finally on the case. >> it's a huge, ongoing step, john, that suggests an active, federal criminal investigation into trump and high-level white house officials before we knew there was an investigation on january 6th in the attack on the capitol and fake electors and that scheme and what this material suggests is the broader investigation that's aimed at the top of the white house and there are three possible reasons why it took that number 480 days. one is garner was being incredibly strategic that trump and all of his allies like navarro would go write books, talk about it and wave any court of privilege. i think that's unlikely to be the reason, but it's out there. a second possibility is that congress might have opposed a request or subpoena for these documents earlier. they were running the investigation and they might have said to garland, hey, we don't want you to ask for this. let us run this for now and the third is this is garland being cautious